Leaders from across the Military Health System and Department of Veterans Affairs work diligently to ensure patients receive timely and seamless care as they transition from one system to the next. Plans are underway to modernize electronic health records and improve how military medical information is transferred between the two departments.

“We are committed to interoperability,” said Dr. Paul Cordts, director of Defense Health Agency Office of the Functional Champion, which serves as a liaison between DHA and Defense Healthcare Management Systems. More than 50 percent of care is delivered outside military treatment facilities through the TRICARE network, he added. “It’s very important for us to be able to see that care.”

Cordts leads the strategic planning for the construction of an integrated system for readiness and health in the MHS. About 9.4 million beneficiaries in the DoD and 8.9 million beneficiaries in the VA rely on electronic health records. A huge quantity of health care information is available on the DoD side alone, and while the electronic exchange of information may be available in areas such as the National Capital Region, it’s important to decipher the quality and usefulness of that information, said Cordts.

“A provider in the TRICARE network can see information about care at Walter Reed or Fort Belvoir, or vice versa,” said Cordts, speaking at the AMSUS Annual Meeting at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill, Maryland, on November 29. “But what is the quality of that information? Is it useful? Is it ingested into the electronic health record? If it’s ingested, is it available and useful and part of the workflow so that it’s immediately available to the clinical team?”

By modernizing the electronic health record system across DoD and VA, providers will be able to access complete and accurate records for patients. This allows service members and veterans to receive care through one integrated and seamless system. Updating the health records not only improves patient safety, but also takes away the need to manually exchange and gather data between departments.

“I think we can all recognize that technology is evolving,” said Dr. Ashwini Zenooz, chief medical officer for the VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization executive office. The updated process will improve usability, reliability, and safety for both providers and patients. “If you think about where we were five to 10 years ago to where we are now, things have changed a lot.”

And they’ll continue to change as DoD and VA work together to move health care in a better direction, said Zenooz. The transformation of the electronic health record is based on quality, safety, and value, with the overall goal to focus more on patients and providers.

“We’re absolutely interested in working together with the broader federal community to ensure that medical records are shared and available so our patients are [able] to have all of their information in one place,” said Zenoonz.

This year, the conference theme emphasized force health protection, from the battlefield to home, with 15 countries represented by international delegates and military medical officers. DHA leaders discussed the ongoing Military Health System (MHS) transformation throughout the week.

This Defense Health Agency-Interim Procedures Memorandum (DHA-IPM), based on the authority of References (a) through (c), and in accordance with the guidance of References (d) and (e):
• Establishes the Defense Health Agency’s (DHA) procedures to complete and close open encounters within the legacy systems in preparation for the implementation of Military Health System (MHS) GENESIS.
• Identifies and delineates responsibilities associated with completing and closing open encounters within the legacy systems in preparation for the implementation of MHS GENESIS.
• Should be used by DoD military treatment facilities (MTFs) to update procedures and workflows that pertain to the DoD Health Record Management, Patient Administration, and other MTF functions impacted by these decisions.
• Is effective immediately; it must be incorporated into a DHA-Procedural Instruction. This DHA-IPM will expire effective 12 months from the date of issue.

This Defense Health Agency-Interim Procedures Memorandum (DHA-IPM), based on the authority of References (a) and (b), and in accordance with the guidance of References (c) through (p):
• Establishes the Defense Health Agency’s (DHA) procedures for the physical custody and control of DoD Health Records at all DoD Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs) and the management, monitoring, review, and evaluation of DoD Health Record availability at MTFs.
• This DHA-IPM is effective immediately and will expire effective 12 months from the date of issue. It must be incorporated into the forthcoming DHA-Procedural Instruction, “Health Records Management”.

The mission of the Program Executive Office, Defense Healthcare Management Systems (PEO DHMS) is to transform the delivery of healthcare and advance data sharing through a modernized electronic health record for service members, veterans, and their families.

The mission of the Joint Operational Medicine Information Systems (JOMIS) Program Management Office (PMO) is to develop, deploy, and sustain MHS GENESIS and other integrated operational medicine information systems for the delivery of comprehensive health services to the deployed forces across the range of military operations.

The mission of the DoD/VA Interagency Program Office (IPO) is to lead and coordinate the adoption of and contribution to national health data standards to ensure interoperability among DoD, VA, and private sector healthcare worldwide.

The mission of the Defense Healthcare Management Systems Modernization (DHMSM) Program Management Office (PMO) is to competitively acquire, test, deliver, and successfully transition to a state-of-the-market electronic health record (EHR) system.

This Defense Health Agency-Interim Procedures Memorandum (DHA-IPM), based on the authority of References (a) and (b), and in accordance with the guidance of References (c) through (s):
• Establishes the Defense Health Agency’s (DHA) procedures for centralized oversight, standardized operations, and ensured quality and performance for the coding of DoD Health Records.
• This DHA-IPM is effective immediately; it will be converted into a DHA-Procedural Instruction. This DHA-IPM will expire 12 months from the date of issue.

The military’s inpatient electronic health record is used in acute hospital environments, providing point-of-care data capture at the patient’s bedside for physiological devices, fetal/uterine devices, ventilators and other patient care machines.

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